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France cannot tolerate another Power but herself... such a jealousy of power is going to give Europe hard times...

Yes, that's true, but I think that goes the same for every other Great Power. Every Great Power always sought to exert control over the others, and can not tolerate another of her own to compete for the mastery of all. That's just how the ways things work in our world.

When we created Artificial Intelligence, we also created Artificial Stupidity. - Gaia commenting on robots.
Proud member of shipbucket, and my own gaiabucket

Felix Faure, the president of the II Republic, sat uneasily on his chair. On his sides were his prime minister and members of the cabinet, along with some prominent senators and generals of his country.

"May we begin the meeting?" asked Faure impatiently.

French Cabinet

At the end of the table, a richly dressed, arrogant man emptied his wine-filled glass and set it down with a loud thud.

“Yes, we may begin. Mr. President.” Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, almost snarled his words to Faure’s face.

In the splendid Hall of Mirrors, where the Reich was born 26 years ago, a joint meeting of government members from both the Reich and the Republic was being held. The delegates of the two nations sat down on the same table, with their guards standing behind them, to hold the most important council of Europe.

“Those damned Germans arrived late, and even after that they demanded some of our best wine before the meeting can begin.” Faure thought in disgust. “Anyways, why would these good for nothing Germans propose a joint council of both of our government?”

Almost leisurely, Wilhelm II ordered the butler to refill his glass, and took another giant gulp of wine.

“Gentleman of the Republic, I thank you all for being here. As you can all tell, we have important matters to discuss here.”

“Your “important matters” better have something to do with Alsace-Lorraine, or I can assure, mon Empereur, we will all be wasting our time here.” The Chief of Staff and Army of France, Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre boomed from his seat.

“I know that you French still find Alsace-Lorraine as something irreplaceable in your hearts, but I can assure you that I have something more interesting to share with all of you here. ” Wilhelm said arrogantly, as if the French minister was a pygmy.

“Then if you please, state what you have.”

From a far side of the table, an old man wearing military uniform said from his seat. The man was Auguste Mercier, commander in chief of the Legion Etrangere.

Auguste Mercier

Wilhelm bowed his eyebrows slightly in disgust, but nevertheless said, “Of course. I will make it simpe and easy for you to understand: we are here today because we wish to forge a secret pact.”

The whole French delegation was in shock. However it was the same in the German delegation, as if they did not know of this matter as well. Only a few senior German delegates remain as calm as they had been since the council had started.

“I’m pretty sure that France is still feeling bitter over her loss influence over Spain and Italy. Spain can be yours, while Italy can be partitioned, in which you’ll be getting the lion’s share. We can even forfeit our rights to expand our sphere of influence in Africa and the Far East if you think colonial matters are also a great concern to you.”

“And what do you want in return for all these.” Mercier said quietly.

“Our interests lie in the Balkans and east of our borders. I wish that the Republic would not interfere with the Reich when the Reich chooses to exert her rightfully rights in those regions.”

“To make it clear, you want us to break our pact with Russia and let you do what you want in the East. I’m I correct, mon empereur?”

“Exactly. Just like what you have said.”

“This is certainly some very interesting pack you are offering, mon empereur. We cannot, however, give you an answer for now. We will put together another meeting by ourselves to discuss this matter.” Faure suddenly interrupted and said in a nervous tone.

“As expected. I didn’t think you could give an immediate answer. Perhaps we meet again, exactly one year from now. We can have the same type of meeting. Your excellent wine makes me want to visit again.”

“We will certainly take that into consideration. We also thank you for your visit.”

“Oh, by the way, I have some forgotten issue to deal with.”

Wilhelm II walked towards a Republican Guard, examined the motionless Guard closely, and shot him with his Luger straight in the heart. The Guard then lay dead in a pool of blood. Before the French can act, they found out their German counterparts each had a pistol or sabre ready in their hands pointing at them.

“I can also tell you something you can be sure about.” Wilhelm said coldly, wiping his gun at the same time. “The Reich is not afraid of a war with the Republic. In fact, you might as consider as itching for one. Your incompetent Intelligence might not have told you this, so I might as well tell you that we have a decent amount of our Army division ready on our border waiting for me. They will certainly use every way to find us if we arrive late, even if it meant some serious consequences. I should be going now and let my men wait no more, if you don’t mind. Oh, and good day to you all.”

With that, the whole German delegation and their guards left the Hall, leaving only the French delegation in shock.

“What that damned monkey in a silly hat just did is unacceptable! It’s an open challenge to us. We must take it and beat them all to the ground or stay in shame like we are right now!” Finally, the hot-headed de Boisdeffre jumped and shouted from his seat.

“We must certainly make a protest about this, but we certainly cannot afford a war now. Our nation was almost in total chaos a few months ago because of that troublesome Dreyfus Affair. We must take care of our own country’s interior problem before we can deal with this. Furthermore, we cannot…”

“Fools! You Idiots! Are you saying we just let him go after he just shot one of our countrymen dead?!” de Boisdeffre roared. “We must let them pay with their BLOOD!!”

“Certainly, we shall have them pay with their blood.” General Mercier said calmly.

The entire French delegation suddenly turned their attetion to the old general.

“What, General Mercier, what did you just said?”

General Mercier called one of his legionnaires to his side and gave a few whisper to him. The legionnaire then promptly left.

“I said, I would let them pay in blood, for the blood that was just spilled in front of us.” General Mercier said in the calmest tone possible. “One of the snipers in my Legion is now on his way to deliver a bullet to one of the empereur’s guard’s head. Please be assured that our snipers are the best that can be offered.”

“What, if…if you can tell one of your snipers to get one of his guards, why don’t you just tell him to shoot that damned German monkey dead for good.” de Boisdeffre shouted, not believing what he just heard from General Mercier.

“The German Emperor will pay, for sure. But he will be left to the last. We shall make him the last one to pay… Not for what he just did, but for being the Republic’s eternal enemy.”

Last edited by gaiasabre11; 28-10-2008 at 00:16.

When we created Artificial Intelligence, we also created Artificial Stupidity. - Gaia commenting on robots.
Proud member of shipbucket, and my own gaiabucket

Hehe, well that was odd. No one usually shoots someone just to make things more clear in the art of diplomacy.

Although I didn't mention it, you can think that Wilhlem II shot the guard because he is under the impression that the French ordered the Hungarian Assassin to murder his Grandfather and Bismarck. His father died in the attempt, so he really wants to have some revenge on the French. Furthermore, you can think that Wilhelm II is an extremly arrogant man that thinks he can do anything he wants and gets away with it. (Not the best character someone can have! )

...............................................

I'd also like to mention this to you all: since this is an alternate history AAR, not every historical person will act and behave exactly like they did in our world. In the course of this AAR, more historical people with a different life experience than their real life counterparts will appear. You may find that some of the historical people you knew completely different.

By the way, I have to apologize for any "odd" things in my AAR. To make it clear, I usually don't have the time to work on this AAR until very late in the night. In fact, for this update I worked up to almost 2 A.M. in the morning (of course I'm saying about the time in my time zone). So for most of the time when I write this my mind won't be as sharp as it can be. I'll always try to update my previous posts to fix any thing odd with my AAR, but I really can't gurantee things to be perfect.

Last edited by gaiasabre11; 11-09-2008 at 20:00.

When we created Artificial Intelligence, we also created Artificial Stupidity. - Gaia commenting on robots.
Proud member of shipbucket, and my own gaiabucket

Warning: The following update will contain some mature subject dealing with blood. (Yes, it will be more gruesome than my last update, so that's why I'm putting up this warning.) Please do not read anything but the last line if you are still young and want to preserve your innocence. You have been warned.

Felix Faure

“Messy, messy…messy!” thought Felix Faure.

It was almost a week after the unexpected joint council. Faure sat on his cozy leather chair in the presidential office recalling what had happened sine the council. Various smaller meetings have been held to bring up a grand strategy to face the upcoming German challenge. Various officials have brought up different suggestions, but most are silly and irrelevant, some even as crazy as declaring an all out war on the Germans by launching a surprise attack on Alsace-Lorraine.

"All useless..."

Faure swept aside all the documents and papers on his desk with his hand, closed the lights of the room, and took a great mouthful of champagne from his glass. It was almost midnight now, with the moon shining high in the sky. Faure then rest against his table due to exhaustion.
“Knock…knock…” A couple of firm knocking sounds ranged Faure’s slumping mind.

“Get out! Even if you are that stupid Kaiser monkey I want you out!” roared Faure, lying face flat on his desk and half drunk after draining down bottles after bottles of champagne throughout the night.

“I’m afraid that I still have to come in. Mr. President.” A cold voice chilled the whole office.

“What, who are you?” snarled Faure, lifting his head up with half-closed eyes.

Auguste Mercier stood before Faure, looking down at him with his piercing eyes. His dominating figure shook Faure.
“What…what is the time now, get…get out or I’ll call…call the guards.” said Faure with trembling lips. “Why am I so afraid, I’m the President, his superior, it should be him that is trembling.” thought Faure, a bit loosing control.

“Hold yourself together. You wouldn’t want me to repeat more than twice.”

Mercier placed his hand on Faure’s head and gave a tightening squeeze so painful that Faure could not even scream out. After a brief period of a few seconds that seem like eternal for Faure, Mercier loosed his iron grip and sat on the chair before Faure.

“Listen very careful to the following I’m about to say. I shall not repeat them.”

Faure sat up, with one hand holding his head. “Please, begin…” he said weakly.

“First of all, calling the guards is very foolish, because they were all replaced by my Legionnaires tonight, and will remain so till I remove them.”

“What? Who gave you the authority to do…” Faure suddenly jumped out and spat out his words to Mercier’s face. A bullet hole then appeared on the window behind him.

Mercier wiped his pistol carefully and gave a cold stare at Faure. “I did not give you the authority to speak. Let me finish, and I’ll give you some time for questions.” said Mercier in a chilling voice.

“Second of all, from now on you are responsible for announcing to the public and the senate whatever I tell you to say with no mistake. Understood? ”

“Yes…General Mercier.”

“Good. Finally I shall make something clear to you. You are dispensable, easily replaceable, and nothing more than a broadcasting device for me. Basically I can grab anyone from the street and replace you with him.”

“Ring…ring…” The phone on top of Faure’s table suddenly rang.

“I’m done with what I wanted to say. Please answer your phone.”

With trembling hands, Faure picked up the phone and put it beside his ear.

“Papa, where are you? I’m in a room with a lot of big men. They already took mama from me, and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”

The phone then went dead.

“I can tell my men to spare the little girl’s other ear, but I’ll not guarantee about her nose if you refuse to cooperate. Any questions?”

“You…you took my…” Faure spoke each of his words with chattering teeth, perhaps out of rage, or perhaps out of fear.

“Yes, I ordered my men to. Any more questions?”

Faure used his hands to hide his face, and after awhile, spoke, “Are you planning to take over the country?”

“No. In fact, I’m already in control of the country. You may ask your colleagues more about this when you meet with them, though some of them you may never meet again forever. Unnecessary blood was spilled because they refuse to cooperate. You have one more question before I leave.”

“What…what are you planning now, some great, ambition plans to take over whatever you can lay your hands on for yourself?” sneered Faure. “You are nothing more than…Aarrrggggghhhhhhhh!”

A bullet pierced Faure’s shoulder. Red, hot blood spilled all over his desk.

“Do not test my tolerance for your words. You should watch out for them, for they may be your last…”

Mercier then put his pistol away, and walked for the door under the moonlight.

“Oh, by the way,” Mercier suddenly turned and said, “be prepared for an announcement on the invasion of Siam.”

.........................................

My following updates may all be written in the same style as in this update, and can be even more gruesome than this one. I'm writing in such a style so that I can really present a clear picture of the darkness in that era. (And don't forget what the title of my AAR is: The Flames of Darkness) If you think that the my writing is too much for you, please just look for my gameplay pictures when checking out this thread.

Last edited by gaiasabre11; 14-09-2008 at 00:16.

When we created Artificial Intelligence, we also created Artificial Stupidity. - Gaia commenting on robots.
Proud member of shipbucket, and my own gaiabucket

It was already late in the night, with the moon shining brightly above my head. However, even the bright full moon cannot compete with the illuminated, burning city around me. The smell of burning wood, cloth, and flesh…disgusted me.

“It seems that even darkness itself is being engulfed by the flames…”

I gazed up at the night sky; the heat of the flames gave me a sense of burning on my cheek.

“Yeeeeaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!!!”

A man leapt out of nowhere roaring at the top of his voice, with a sabre in hand. He ran straight for me, his eyes red as rubies. I dodged his rash attacks, and pierced his throat with my bayonet. His blood spewed onto my cheek as I lifted his lifeless body and threw it aside.

As I turned to go, a little boy came from aside and went for the dead man. He let out an ear-piercing cry. Perhaps the man was his father.

I ignored the boy and continue on my path. However, like his father, the boy let out a roar, wielding a small knife in hand, and went straight for me.

I looked on the little boy as he ran closer and closer towards me. Just as he was about to stab me, I lifted my knee and strike him on the lower jaw, making him briefly airborne. Then I landed my elbow on the top of the boy’s skull, crushing it completely between my knee and elbow. I finished with a rifle butt strike to the nose, sending the boy flying a few meters. All my moves happened in a few seconds.

“Ha…ha…” The boy let out a weak breathing sound. Dark red blood poured out of his mouth and nose, mixing with his saliva to form a pool of liquid beside his head. His half-opened eyes fixed in a stare.

I looked on the boy as he stared at me. For a few moments we just looked at each other, the only sounds were the sounds of the burning city.

“Mon adjudant-chef, we are finished with that side.” One of the sergeants under my command suddenly came to me.

“Good. Go find some planks and nails. Nail the planks into a cross, and then crucify the boy over there on the city square.”

“Understood, mon adjudant-chef.” The sergeant then promptly left.

“What am I doing here… ” I stared at the night sky.

“…………To obey, obey, obey………….”

As I went back to my army camp, a caporal came to me.

“Mon adjudant-chef, General Mercier wants to see you.” The caporal reported.

“Inform him I will be with him soon.”

………………………………………….

I went for the Thai Royal Palace. General Mercier setup his temporary high command there. As I went through the palace, fresh blood stains marked the floors and the wall. A few wailing and screaming sounds can be heard coming from hidden corners of the palace.

“Knock…knock!” I knocked the door of the General’s temporary office firmly without hesitation.

“Come in. The door is open.”

I went into the office. It seems to be one of the Thai King’s various study rooms. Scattered books and scrolls are all over the floor, as well as the headless body of the dead king.

"Adjudant-chef Rommel, am I right?” The General asked with his deep blue eyes fixed on mine.

………………………………………………….

Ok, I know you guys will have a lot of questions, and you are certainly welcomed to ask them. However, I can announce that the next update will answer most of your questions. So it is suggested to wait till then. By the way, I have sorted out my schedule to make updates on Wednesdays and Saturdays. However, since I’m a university student, if one of my midterms or finals happened to be on Wednesday or Saturday, that day will not have any update. Still, it is safe to think that at least one update will appear each week.

Last edited by gaiasabre11; 29-10-2008 at 09:12.

When we created Artificial Intelligence, we also created Artificial Stupidity. - Gaia commenting on robots.
Proud member of shipbucket, and my own gaiabucket